“I’m sorry for having caused you concern, and now that I know I did, I won’t do it again. There’s no need to issue orders or reprimand me as if I were a child. You could just ask, you know.”
“I should not even need to ask.”
“It never even crossed my mind that you would worry! I thought you wouldn’t even notice I was gone until maybe dinner time. If you deigned to show up for dinner!”
“How could you think I wouldn’t notice you were gone?” he asked with an edge to his voice.
“Well, can you blame me? You haven’t been around much. In the past week, I’ve rarely seen you. We only meet at dinner, and even then you are distant and formal. I thought my presence was bothering you, so the less I was around, the better. I feel like an unwanted guest. In other circumstances, I would leave immediately, except I don’t have anywhere to go.”
To her horror, her eyes started watering. She blinked back the tears and cleared her throat. “But I promise I won’t be a burden much longer. In Oxford, I saw an advertisement in a newspaper for a job at an architectural firm. I’ll find a job and...”
The rest of her statement was silenced when he walked up to her and enfolded her in his arms.
“Hush, Livvy,” he said, his voice rough as he held her close. “How can you think I want you gone? That I wouldn’t notice if you were here or not?” He snorted without humor. “I am aware of you every moment of the day and night. During the day, no matter what I’m doing, I keep track of your whereabouts in the back of my mind. At night when I go to sleep, I dream about you. I feel your presence. Today when I came back into the house, I immediately sensed you were not here. Don’t ask me how I knew. I just did. When I asked about you, and was told you had gone off on a train...” He broke off, unable to continue.
Olivia looked up from within the circle of his arms, which were still fiercely holding her close. She tried looking into his eyes, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze. She had no idea. He always seemed so aloof, controlled, unemotional. It was difficult to reconcile that person with the intense man who held her too tight and fairly vibrated with emotion. She raised her hand and placed it against his cheek. Slowly, she exerted pressure so he would look at her.
“I didn’t know you felt that way. Why, then, have you been avoiding me and acting all cold and aloof?”
As he looked down at her, what seemed like one thousand emotions flickered across his stormy blue eyes. A muscle ticking in his clenched jaw was the only sign of movement before he slammed his lips down on hers.
Olivia hesitated for only one second, before desire inundated her like a flash flood and her whole body responded. He kissed like a master. His lips didn’t ask permission. They conquered. Confident and assured of their welcome, they slid sensuously, owning hers. His hands caressed her back in languid circles that seemed to soothe and inflame at once.
She moaned, and he took advantage of the opening. His tongue invaded her mouth, exploring and claiming with uncompromising command. Her tongue met his, greeting, then tangling, retreating and re-engaging in a teasing duel before he took control and suckled her tongue, capturing it, demanding her surrender.
She gave in.
But in surrendering, she found victory because she had never felt so much pleasure from a kiss in her life. Pulses of desire streamed through her body, turning her limbs to jelly. His arms tightened around her, holding her, molding her to his hard body, and she heard him utter a low groan.
Her hands came up to frame his face, feeling the delicious friction of his bristles against her palms. Without breaking the kiss, he leaned into her caressing hands, seeking her touch.
He smelled so good, of shaving lotion and mint and male. A whimper escaped her throat, and she slid her hands into the warm silken locks of his hair, grasping, tugging, softly scratching his scalp in mindless desire. Then, with a guttural curse, he tore his mouth away, leaving her bereft and moaning in protest.
CHAPTER 26 - Kiss me like you mean it
AVONDALE’S BREATH CAMEin uneven spurts. He still held her to him as he tried hard to bring himself under control. Good god, what was he doing? A moment more of this and he would have taken her right here on top of his desk. She didn’t know how close the beast inside him had come to being unleashed. Her sweet surrender, the desire he could feel radiating from her, was like the scent of prey to a ravenous wolf. He wanted to possess, to devour.
